Do you have a rotation routine?

[ElLoboLoco]

Curious to what others do, I have settled into a nice simple rotation.

Lane 1 = Cuban-inspired New World structure

Lane 2 = Cuban-adjacent transition

Lane 3 = actual Cubans

Pick a lane 1 cigar, then lane 2, lane 1, lane 2 then a cuban. It essentially letting me extend my cuban cigars but keep it fresh. It’s taken some time to evolve here but it’s definitely made selection, buying and enjoyments great for my tastes.

Whats your plans?

[El Niño]

Can you explain the difference between Lane 1 and Lane 2?  I think I'm tracking with you, but just want to make sure!

My rotation has been a 70-20-10 split more or less:

• 70% of the time, I'm smoking a Cuban-adjacent cigar (usually from Honduras). E.G. Fab5, Cabaiguan, Aladino, custom roll, etc...
• 20% of the time, Nicaraguan profile cigars. Padrón, Tatuaje, and so forth.
• 10% of the time, a genuine Cuban
• Dominican cigars don't really make it into my rotation.  

[ElLoboLoco]

Lane 1 are smokes like Tatuaje Regios, Tat Red Labels, Tat Sir Winstons, Illusione Epernays, Aladinos, Raices Cubanas. Generally drier, not dark flavored smokes. Don’t care for the dark syrupy sweet stuff or pepper bombs.

Lane 2 is Fabrica 5, Bond Roberts and farm rolls.

[El Presidente]

Rotation Routine 

Beginning of each month I put around 50 cigars in my drybox and that will be the majority of what I smoke. Those 50 cigars will be a mix of what is smoking well + what I need to try. 

The mix is different month to month but will always include from the Cuban side BBF/D4/Mag 46 + new releases etc. From the NC side, new BR and MOFOH/Desnudo blends + revisiting current blends. 

[Lucas Buck]

Similar to Pres I load up my on deck/dry box humidors every few weeks and pull from there. Not much of a rotation as I only smoke one or two cigars a day. Weekly almost always a Cohiba, Trinidad, Partagas & Punch. Also several farmies and usually at least one MM. I do love a well aged MM. 

[Dlowil]

The concept of dry boxing is intriguing. Are New Worlds and Cubans kept in the same dry box? What’s the RH for the dry box(s)?

[MrBirdman]

Honestly, not anymore. From 2020-2022, before Cigarmaggedon and when I was working entirely from home, I definitely had a daily morning cigar rotation: Monte 1/3/4, Especiales #2, Siglo II (occasionally a III), Coloniales, PLPC, and Davidoff GC#2/#3. 

The Monte 4, Siglo 2 and Coloniales constituted about 80% of my morning smoking, with the others filling out the balance. My evening cigar was more spur of the moment, though I would often set aside cigars I wanted to smoke.

Now my smoking is much less frequent and driven by what is getting overaged for my taste and needs to be smoked through. 

[Li Bai]

To be honest, I wish I had one but I don't really have any. More often than not, picking up a cigar starts with me staring cluelessly at my cabinet for a solid 5-10mn, then opening a few boxes to make my mind...

The outcome is unpredictable, I often open the door of my home lounge wanting to smoke a DC and end up lighting up a RGPE, or thinking of a Shorts just to end up with a Reynaldo Salomones and if the decision making process takes too long I'll just leave it here and decide I shouldn't smoke this day.

Long story short, I don't dry box.

[JDoughty]

I do have a dry box that I may put sticks in that I plan to smoke in the next week or so, but no real routine. I smoke what looks and smells delicious. Lately I've been hitting the Magnum 44's hard, at least one of those every day, because they are so tasty I keep wanting to go back to them. If I'm smoking at a B&M I buy whatever looks good there or is recommended to me to try, check the RH to make sure it's at an enjoyable level and smoke that. I keep eyeing the Fenomenos and Dalia, but my sniff tests are telling me it would be better to rest them a bit longer. Been reaching for the BR #1 and #6 instead since I have boxes of those that are ready to go. Though possibly not for long if I keep dipping into them. 😆 For CC's I'm mostly hitting the cheap & cheerfuls that don't need so much aging time. Love the Quintero panatelas and RG Panatelas. 

[JohnS]

My routine is influenced by years of doing a Smoking Blog on FoH. From 2018 until 2025, I would consult with my Smoking Diary on Cuban Cigar Website to see what cigar it was time for re-visiting and lighting up. I wouldn't smoke from the same box twice with the same week or month, usually.

Nowadays, I have that type of information in my head. I think to myself, "what do I need to re-visit soon?" and I grab it and put it into a ziploc bag to drybox for maybe up to a week. I have a separate one for Habanos cigars and New World ones. If something is smoking "hot" I will smoke those three or four times within the same month, normally.

[El Presidente]

6 hours ago, Dlowil said:

The concept of dry boxing is intriguing. Are New Worlds and Cubans kept in the same dry box? What’s the RH for the dry box(s)?

I throw them in the same dry box which is an old desktop humidor. This time of year there is no humidification device (average 55% humidity). Summer I will throw a 62% Boveda in. 

[Ford2112]

Never had one. I would go to my humidor with a cigar in mind and one would jump out at be and say, "smoke me..." so I never even know what I will smoke.

[ha_banos]

Whatever is easy to get at in the cabinet. The draws, out of a few boxes I don't have to play Tetris with. It's always been a challenge picking something. Sometimes I will just stand there looking for ages. Nowadays it's regretting every selection moves a box into oblivion, never to be restocked. So I'm tending to gravitate to customs. Or I've got a small NC desktop, where the Fab5 reside. Recently I'm keeping 5 cigars in a travel case with a 58% Boveda pack. So I'll try to fill that for the next few smokes. That's my drybox. And honestly I think it does help.

[ElLoboLoco]

I should try a dry box, I keep everything at 65rh and never have any issues. Maybe I will add a 62rh Boveda pack to an empty humidor.

I am afraid I will feel the need to fill it and buy more cigars. I am sick. 😝

[Chitmo]

Honestly I just go by average cost. I give myself a weekly budget. If I smoke something special I’ll compensate the rest of the week by smoking cheap and cheerful stuff. I try not to look at current values too much though and generally base it on what I paid for things. If I went by market value I’d never smoke some of it. 

[Capn_Jackson]

About the same, but I’d say I go probably once in each lane in turn, then repeat. So 1 in 3 times I’m picking up a CC.

I think more about what’s old and what I like old, what’s new and what I like new. That’s typically how I build my rotation. Experimenting.